Source driver, an image display assembly and an image display apparatus

ABSTRACT

According to example embodiments, an image display panel assembly includes a flexible printed circuit (FPC), an image display panel, at least one gate driver integrated circuit (IC) package, and at least one source driver IC package. The FPC is configured to receive gate and source driving signals. The image display panel is electrically connected to the FPC, and includes a gate driving signal transfer pattern along a first edge of the image display panel, a source driving signal transfer pattern along a second edge adjacent to the first end, and a plurality of pixels. The at least one gate driver integrated circuit (IC) package is configured to receive the gate driving signal through the gate driving signal transfer pattern and configured to provide the gate driving signal to gate lines of the plurality of pixels. The at least one source driver IC package is configured to receive the source driving signal through the source driving signal transfer pattern and configured to provide the source driving signal to source lines of the plurality of pixels.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 120/121 to U.S. application Ser. No. 13/242,394, filed on Sep.23, 2011, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2010-0092857, filed on Sep. 24, 2010, in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office, the disclosures of each of which areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

Example embodiments relate to an image display apparatus, and moreparticularly, to an image display apparatus including an image displaypanel assembly.

An image display apparatus includes a plurality of image displaydevices. The image display devices may display respective differentimages based on a voltage applied to a source terminal, in response toturn-on signals of a gate terminal. The image display apparatus mayinclude source and gate driver integrated circuits (ICs) for applyingsignals to source terminals and gate terminals of the image displaydevices.

SUMMARY

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, an imagedisplay panel assembly includes a flexible printed circuit (FPC)configured to receive gate and source driving signals, an image displaypanel electrically connected to the FPC, the image display panelincluding a gate driving signal transfer pattern along a first edge ofthe image display panel, a source driving signal transfer pattern alonga second edge adjacent to the first end, and a plurality of pixels, atleast one gate driver integrated circuit (IC) package configured toreceive the gate driving signal through the gate driving signal transferpattern and configured to provide the gate driving signal to gate linesof the plurality of pixels, and at least one source driver IC packageconfigured to receive the source driving signal through the sourcedriving signal transfer pattern and configured to provide the sourcedriving signal to source lines of the plurality of pixels.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the at leastone source driver IC package includes a base substrate bonded to theimage display panel and including a flexible insulating material, asource driver IC mounted on the base substrate and configured to receiveand provide the source driving signal, a source driving signal inputpattern electrically connected to the source driver IC and receives thesource driving signal, and a source driving signal output patternelectrically connected to the source driver IC and provides the sourcedriving signal to the source lines of the plurality of pixels.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the sourcedriving signal input pattern and the source driving signal outputpattern extend towards the image display panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the FPC ison a corner portion between the first edge and the second edge of theimage display panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the FPC ison a portion of the second edge of the image display panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the at leastone source driver IC package and the at least one gate driver IC packageare chip-on-film (CoF) packages.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the gatedriving signal transfer pattern electrically connects the FPC to the atleast one gate driver IC package or connects the at least one gatedriver IC package to at least one other gate driver IC package.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the imagedisplay panel assembly further includes a printed circuit board (PCB)electrically connected to the FPC. The PCB includes a semiconductor chipconfigured to provide the gate and source driving signals.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, an imagedisplay panel assembly includes a flexible printed circuit (FPC)electrically connected to an image display panel and configured toprovide gate and source driving signals, a plurality of gate drivingsignal transfer patterns along a first edge of the image display panel,and a plurality of source driving signal transfer patterns along asecond edge adjacent to the first edge, the plurality of gate drivingsignal transfer patterns configured to transfer the gate driving signaland the plurality of source driving signal transfer patterns configuredto transfer the source driving signal, a plurality of gate driverintegrated circuit (IC) packages along the first edge of the imagedisplay panel, the plurality of gate driver IC packages configured toreceive the gate driving signal through the gate driving signal transferpatterns, and configured to transfer the gate driving signal to anadjacent gate driver IC package or to provide the gate driving signal tothe image display panel, and a plurality of source driver IC packagesalong the second edge of the image display panel, the plurality ofsource driver IC packages configured to receive the source drivingsignal through the source driving signal transfer patterns, andconfigured to transfer the source driving signal to an adjacent sourcedriver IC package or to provide the source driving signal to the imagedisplay panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the imagedisplay panel assembly, further includes a printed circuit board (PCB)including a semiconductor chip configured to communicate with anexternal device to receive an image signal. The semiconductor chip isconfigured to generate the source and gate driving signals, and providethe source and gate driving signals to the FPC.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the PCB isbent towards and fixed at a rear surface of the image display panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the PCB isbent and fixed in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the imagedisplay panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, each of theplurality of source driver IC packages includes a base substrate on theimage display panel and including a flexible insulating material, asource driver IC on the base substrate and configured to receive and toprovide the source driving signal, a source driving signal input patternelectrically connected to the source driver IC and in a direction of theimage display panel, the source driving signal input pattern configuredto receive a source transfer driving signal included in the sourcedriving signal, a source driving signal output pattern electricallyconnected to the source driver IC and in a direction of the imagedisplay panel, the source driving signal output pattern configured toprovide the source transfer driving signal to source electrodes of aplurality of pixel electrodes, and a source driving signal via patternon the base substrate and configured to transfer a via source drivingsignal included in the source driving signal.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, each of theplurality of source driver IC packages further includes a sorted sourcedriving signal transfer pattern electrically connected to the sourcedriver IC and in a direction of the image display panel, the sortedsource driving signal transfer pattern configured to output a sortedsource driving signal that is sorted by the source driver IC.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the FPC isbonded to a portion of the second edge of the image display panel.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, an imagedisplay apparatus includes the image display panel assembly.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, a sourcedriver integrated circuit (IC) package includes a source driver IC, asource driving signal input pattern connected to the source driver ICand configured to input source driving signals to the source driver IC,and a source driving signal output pattern connected to the sourcedriver IC and configured to output the source driving signals receivedfrom the source driver IC.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the sourcedriver IC package, further includes a sorted source driving signaltransfer pattern configured to output the source driving signalsreceived from the source driver IC to another source driver IC package.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the sourcedriver IC package, further includes a source driving signal via patternconfigured to bypass the source driver IC and output the source drivingsignals to another source driver IC package.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, a displaypanel includes a plurality of source driver IC packages on a first edge,a plurality of gate driver IC packages on a second edge adjacent to thefirst edge, a source driving signal transfer pattern connected to thesource driving signal output pattern of the source driver IC package,and a gate driving signal transfer patterns configured to connect thesource driver IC package to at least one gate driver IC package.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, an imagedisplay apparatus includes the display panel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages will become more apparent bydescribing in detail example embodiments with reference to the attacheddrawings. The accompanying drawings are intended to depict exampleembodiments and should not be interpreted to limit the intended scope ofthe claims. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawnto scale unless explicitly noted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image display panel assemblyaccording to example embodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIGS. 2A through 2C are perspective views of image display panelassemblies according to example embodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are plan views of source driver integrated circuit (IC)packages according to example embodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the source driver IC package takenalong a line IV-IV′ of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an image display apparatusincluding an image display panel assembly, according to exampleembodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are blocks of source driver ICs, according to exampleembodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a gate driver IC, according to exampleembodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of an image display apparatusaccording to example embodiments of the inventive concepts;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are cross-sectional views of image display apparatuseseach of which correspond to the image display apparatus taken along aline IX-IX′ of FIG. 8, according to example embodiments of the inventiveconcepts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed example embodiments are disclosed herein. However, specificstructural and functional details disclosed herein are merelyrepresentative for purposes of describing example embodiments. Exampleembodiments may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms and shouldnot be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein.

Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of variousmodifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown byway of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail.It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limitexample embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but to thecontrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of exampleembodiments. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout thedescription of the figures.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another. For example, a first element could be termed asecond element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a firstelement, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. Asused herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of oneor more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected” or “coupled” to another element, it may be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directlyconnected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are nointervening elements present. Other words used to describe therelationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion(e.g., “between” versus “directly between”, “adjacent” versus “directlyadjacent”, etc.).

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exampleembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, an and the areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises”, “comprising,”, “includes” and/or “including”, when usedherein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, thefunctions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures.For example, two figures shown in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image display panel assembly 100according to example embodiments of the inventive concepts.

Referring to FIG. 1, the image display panel assembly 100 may include aprinted circuit board (PCB) 110, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 120,gate driver integrated circuit (IC) packages 130, source driver ICpackages 140, and an image display panel 150.

The PCB 110 may include a semiconductor chip 111 that receives an imagesignal from an external device such as a host and provides source andgate driving signals. The PCB 110 may include an epoxy resin, apolyimide resin, a bismaleimide triazine (BT) resin, flame retardant(FR)-4, FR-5, ceramic, silicon, or glass, as an example and the exampleembodiments are not limited thereto. The PCB 110 may include a singlelayer or a multilayered structure including wiring patterns formedtherein. For example, the PCB 110 may be formed by a single rigid plate,may be formed by attaching a plurality of rigid plates to each other, ormay be formed by attaching a thin flexible PCB and a rigid plate to eachother. The rigid plates attached to each other or the PCB 110 may eachinclude wiring patterns.

The PCB 110 may include a timing controller (not shown), and atransmission/reception circuit (not shown) that communicates with anexternal device such as a host, and transmits and receives signals toand from the external device. The PCB 110 may include the semiconductorchip 111 that provides the source and gate driving signals fordisplaying an image with appropriate timing.

The FPC 120 is electrically connected to the PCB 110 and transmits thesource and gate driving signals to the PCB 110. A portion of the FPC 120is bonded to the PCB 110, and another portion of the FPC 120 is bondedto the image display panel 150. The FPC 120 may be bonded to the imagedisplay panel 150 by thermo-compressing the FPC 120 on the image displaypanel 150 with an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) as a medium. Forexample, the FPC 120 may be bonded to a corner portion where a firstend/edge of the image display panel 150 and a second end/edge adjacentto the first end/edge meet each other, wherein the gate driver ICpackages 130 are bonded to the first end/edge, and the source driver ICpackages 140 are bonded to the second end/edge. However, thisarrangement of the gate driver IC packages 130 and the source driver ICpackages 140 is not limited thereto and can be varied per designrequirements.

The FPC 120 may include a gate driving signal connection pattern 121 forproviding gate driving signals, and a source driving signal connectionpattern 123 for providing source driving signals. The gate drivingsignal connection pattern 121 and the source driving signal connectionpattern 123 may be configured as separate FPCs formed on respective basesubstrates. However, in example embodiments of FIG. 1, the gate drivingsignal connection pattern 121 and the source driving signal connectionpattern 123 are formed on a single base substrate.

The FPC 120 is flexible. Thus, during assembly of the image displaypanel assembly 100, the FPC 120 may be bent towards and fixed to a rearsurface of the image display panel 150, or alternatively, the FPC 120may be bent in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the imagedisplay panel 150, and then may be fixed to the surface.

The FPC 120 may function as a connector for electrically connecting thePCB 110 and the image display panel 150 to each other by coating aconductive material, for example, including a copper foil, on a flexiblebase film of the FPC 120.

The base film of the FPC 120 may include at least one of a polyamidefilm, a polyester film, and a glass cloth epoxy. The FPC 120 may includeonly wirings, and thus suffer negligible damage even if the FPC 120 isdeformed due to external shock.

The FPC 120 provides the source and gate driving signals to the sourcedriver IC packages 140 and the gate driver IC packages 130,respectively. The gate driving signal connection pattern 121 may receivethe gate driving signals from the semiconductor chip 111 mounted on thePCB 110, and may provide the gate driving signals to the gate driver ICpackages 130 through a first gate driving signal transfer pattern 153 a.The source driving signal connection pattern 123 may receive the sourcedriving signals from the semiconductor chip 111, and may provide thesource driving signals to the source driver IC packages 140 through afirst source driving signal transfer pattern 151 a.

The FPC 120 is bonded to the corner portion where the first end/edge ofthe image display panel 150 and the second end/edge adjacent to thefirst end/edge meet each other, wherein, for example, the gate driver ICpackages 130 are bonded to the first end/edge, and the source driver ICpackages 140 are bonded to the second end/edge. In this case, the gatedriving signals and the source driving signals may be sequentiallytransmitted in respective predetermined directions.

The gate driving signals are provided to a second gate driver IC package130 b from the FPC 120 through a first gate driver IC package 130 a. Inaddition, the source driving signals are provided to a first sourcedriver IC package 140 a from the FPC 120 so that some of the sourcedriving signals corresponding to source transfer driving signals may beprovided to source lines that are electrically connected to the firstsource driver IC package 140 a, and other remaining source drivingsignals corresponding to via source driving signals may be provided to asecond source driver IC package 140 b through the first source driver ICpackage 140 a. Similarly, some of the source driving signals areprovided to source lines that are electrically connected to the secondsource driver IC package 140 b, and the other remaining source drivingsignals are provided to a third source driver IC package 140 c.

Thus, when the gate and source driving signals are provided to at leastone of the packages of the gate driver IC packages 130 and at least oneof the packages of the source driver IC packages 140 from the PCB 110through a single FPC 120, the signals may also be transferred.

According to example embodiments, since the source and gate drivingsignals are provided from the PCB 110 through the FPC 120, stressgenerated on the image display panel assembly 100 may be reduced whenboth the gate driver IC packages 130 and the source driver IC packages140 are bonded to the image display panel 150 and the PCB 110.

The image display panel assembly 100 may experience reduced stress dueto external shock by providing the gate and source driving signals tothe gate driver IC packages 130 and the source driver IC packages 140through the FPC 120, compared with a case where the source and gatedriving signals are provided directly through the PCB 110.

The gate driver IC packages 130 may be bonded to portions of the firstend/edge of the image display panel 150 along the first end/edge of theimage display panel 150.

The gate driver IC packages 130 may include the first and second gatedriver IC packages 130 a and 130 b, and may receive the gate drivingsignals provided from the FPC 120 through the image display panel 150.The image display panel 150 may include first and second gate drivingsignal transfer patterns 153 a and 153 b that extend along an end/edgeof the image display panel 150. At least one of the first and secondgate driving signal transfer patterns 153 a and 153 b may beelectrically connected to the FPC 120, for example, the gate drivingsignal connection pattern 121 formed on the FPC 120, so as to receivethe gate driving signals, and may provide the gate driving signals tothe gate driver IC packages 130.

Each of the first and second gate driver IC packages 130 a and 130 b mayreceive corresponding gate driving signals, and may transmit thecorresponding gate driving signals to a next gate driver IC package, orto gate lines of a plurality of pixels included in the image displaypanel 150.

For example, the first gate driver IC package 130 a may be electricallyconnected to the FPC 120 through the first gate driving signal transferpattern 153 a so as to receive the gate driving signals.

The first and second gate driver IC packages 130 a and 130 b may receivethe gate driving signals sorted into gate driving signals to betransmitted to gate lines that are electrically connected to the firstand second gate driver IC packages 130 a and 130 b, and gate drivingsignals to be transmitted to another gate driver IC package adjacent tothe first and second gate driver IC packages 130 a and 130 b. Forexample, the first gate driver IC package 130 a may receive both thegate driving signals to be transmitted to gate lines that areelectrically connected to the first gate driver IC package 130 a, andthe gate driving signals to be transmitted to the second gate driver ICpackage 130 b. In this case, with regard to the first gate driver ICpackage 130 a, the gate driving signals to be transmitted to gate linesthat are electrically connected to the first gate driver IC package 130a are referred to as gate transfer driving signals, and the gate drivingsignals to be transmitted to the second gate driver IC package 130 b arereferred to as via gate driving signals. These terminologies will beused throughout this specification, and will be correspondingly used forthe source driving signals.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the gatedriving signals may be signals for sequentially activating the gatelines that are electrically connected to the first and second gatedriver IC packages 130 a and 130 b, and thus the gate transfer drivingsignals and the via gate driving signals may be substantially the samegate driving signals.

The first gate driver IC package 130 a provides the via gate drivingsignals of the gate driving signals received by the first gate drivingsignal transfer pattern 153 a to the second gate driver IC package 130 badjacent to the first gate driver IC package 130 a through the secondgate driving signal transfer pattern 153 b. The first gate driver ICpackage 130 a provides the gate transfer driving signals of the gatedriving signals to the gate lines that are electrically connected to thefirst gate driver IC package 130 a.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the gatedriving signals are sorted into the gate transfer driving signals andthe via gate driving signals by gate driver ICs that are respectivelyincluded in the first and second gate driver IC packages 130 a and 130b, or by respective wirings when being provided from the PCB 110. Whenthe gate transfer driving signal and the via gate driving signal areprovided by the respective wirings, the gate transfer driving signal andthe via gate driving signal may be provided through respective wiringsalso in the first and second gate driver IC packages 130 a and 130 b.The gate transfer driving signals may be provided to the gate driver ICsthrough gate driving signal input patterns, and may be provided to thegate lines of the pixels included in the image display panel 150 throughgate driving signal output patterns. The via gate driving signals maymove between adjacent gate driver IC packages 130 through a gate drivingsignal via pattern.

The source driver IC packages 140 may include first through fourthsource driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d, and may bebonded to portions of the second end/edge of the image display panel 150along the second end/edge adjacent to the first end/edge of the imagedisplay panel 150 so as to receive the source driving signals from theFPC 120 through the image display panel 150.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the imagedisplay panel 150 may include first through fourth source driving signaltransfer patterns 151 a, 151 b, 151 c and 151 d that extend along thesecond end/edge of the image display panel 150. At least one of thefirst through fourth source driving signal transfer patterns 151 a, 151b, 151 c and 151 d is electrically connected to the FPC 120, and thusthe image display panel 150 may receive the source driving signals andmay provide the source driving signals to the source driver IC packages140. For example, the first source driving signal transfer pattern 151 amay be electrically connected to the source driving signal connectionpattern 123 formed on the FPC 120, and thus may receive the sourcedriving signals and may provide the source driving signals to the firstsource driver IC package 140 a.

The first through fourth source driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c,and 140 d may receive the respective source driving signals, and mayprovide the respective source driving signals to adjacent source driverIC packages, and/or may provide the respective source driving signals tosource lines of the pixels included in image display panel 150.

For example, the second source driver IC package 140 b may receive thesource driving signals from the first source driver IC package 140 aadjacent to the second source driver IC package 140 b, and may providethe source transfer driving signals included in the source drivingsignals to the source lines included in the image display panel 150 thatis electrically connected to the second source driver IC package 140 b.In addition, the second source driver IC package 140 b may transmit thevia source driving signals included in the source driving signalsreceived from the first source driver IC package 140 a to the thirdsource driver IC package 140 c. According to example embodiments of theinventive concepts, the source driving signals are sorted into thesource transfer driving signals and the via source driving signals bysource driver ICs included in the first through fourth source driver ICpackages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d, or by respective wirings whenbeing provided from the PCB 110. In each of the first through fourthsource driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d, the via sourcedriving signals are transmitted to an adjacent source driver IC packagethrough a source driving signal via patterns formed across the firstthrough fourth source driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d,and a base substrate of the first through fourth source driver ICpackages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d. The source transfer drivingsignals may be provided to the first through fourth source driver ICpackages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d through source driving signalinput patterns.

However, the same source driving signals may be provided to the sourcedriver IC packages 140 rather than being sequentially provided to theimage display panel 150. The first through fourth source driver ICpackages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d may classify provided sourcetransfer driving signals, and may provide the source transfer drivingsignals to the source lines. Structures of the source driver IC packages140 will be described later.

The image display panel 150 may include a glass substrate on which aplurality of pixels are formed, and a color filter substrate formed onthe glass substrate so as to face the pixels. For example, the imagedisplay panel 150 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD), organiclight emission diode (OLED), or the like. The color filter substrate mayhave a smaller size than the glass substrate, and may include red,green, and blue (RGB) pixels formed by developing and etchingphotoresist including RGB pigments.

The pixels formed on the glass substrate are connected between aplurality of gate lines and a plurality of source lines, and may includeat least one of a transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode andindium zinc oxide (IZO) electrode.

The image display panel 150 receives and stores source driving voltagescorresponding to the source driving signals, is turned-on in response tothe gate driving signals, and displays an image based on the sourcedriving voltages.

FIGS. 2A through 2C are perspective views of image display panelassemblies 100 a, 100 b, and 100 c according to example embodiments ofthe inventive concepts.

Referring to FIGS. 2A through 2C, FPCs 120 a, 120 b, and 120 c arebonded to different locations than that of the FPC 120 of FIG. 1, orsource and gate driving signals are transmitted through different pathseven though the FPCs 120 a, 120 b, and 120 c are bonded to the samelocation. Components that are not described herein are substantially thesame as in FIG. 1. In addition, like reference numerals in the drawingsdenote like elements, and thus their description will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the image display panel assembly 100 a may includethe FPC 120 a bonded to a substantially central portion of the secondend/edge of the image display panel 150 to which the source driver ICpackages 140 are bonded.

The FPC 120 a is bonded to the image display panel 150 in substantiallythe same manner as in FIG. 1. Power voltages for an operation of theimage display panel assembly 100 a may be applied through a PCB 110 a soas to drive the gate driver IC packages 130 and the source driver ICpackages 140, and may be applied to the image display panel 150. Thepower voltages may be provided through the same path as that of the gateand source driving signals. Thus, when the gate and source drivingsignals are sequentially provided, the power voltages may besequentially provided. While the power voltages pass through a pluralityof driver IC packages, a loss in the power voltages may occur.

When the loss in the power voltages occurs, since appropriate powervoltages for operations of the driver IC packages may not be applied tothe driver IC packages, malfunction is likely to be caused. The loss inthe power voltages may be proportional to a distance between the FPC 120a and each driver IC package. For example, in FIG. 1, the loss in thepower voltage applied to the fourth source driver IC package 140 d maybe the greatest among the first through fourth source driver IC packages140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d.

When the FPC 120 a is bonded substantially to the central portionbetween the source driver IC packages 140, the power voltage may beapplied around the FPC 120 a. In this case, with regard to the imagedisplay panel assembly 100 a, distances between the FPC 120 a, and thefirst through fourth source driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and140 d may be minimized as compared to FIG. 1, and thus the loss in thepower voltages of the image display panel assembly 100 a may be reduced.

In addition, the distances between the FPC 120 a and the first throughfourth source driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, and 140 d may berelated to signal delay. Thus, when the FPC 120 a is bonded to thecentral portion, the signal delay may also be minimized.

In FIG. 2A, the gate driving signals may be provided through the firstand second source driver IC packages 140 a and 140 b that are bondedbetween the first and second source driver IC packages 130 a and 130 band the FPC 120 a. That is, the gate driving signals may be providedthrough the same path as that of the source driving signals and a sourceIC. The source and gate driving signals may be provided to the thirdsource driving signal transfer pattern 151 c through a source and gatedriving signal connection pattern 125 formed on the FPC 120 a, andprovided from the third source driving signal transfer pattern 151 c.

The source and gate driving signals may be provided into a source driverIC included in the first and second source driver IC packages 140 a and140 b, or alternatively, through the source driving signal via patternsformed on the first and second source driver IC packages 140 a and 140b.

In addition, the source driving signals may be provided to the third andfourth source driver IC packages 140 c and 140 d through the sourcedriving signal connection pattern 123 and the fourth source drivingsignal transfer pattern 151 d.

FIG. 2B illustrates a case where the gate driving signals are provideddirectly to the gate driver IC packages 130 through the image displaypanel 150 without passing through the source driver IC packages 140.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the FPC 120 b is bonded substantially to a centralportion between the source driver IC packages 140 on the image displaypanel 150. The FPC 120 b includes the source driving signal connectionpattern 123, the gate driving signal connection pattern 121, and thesource and gate driving signal connection pattern 125. The gate drivingsignal connection pattern 121 is electrically connected to the firstgate driving signal transfer pattern 153 a through a via gate drivingsignal transfer pattern 155. The via gate driving signal transferpattern 155 may be formed on a portion of the image display panel 150 towhich the first and second source driver IC packages 140 a and 140 b arebonded in order to prevent short circuits from occurring between the viagate driving signal transfer pattern 155 and source line patterns 157 aand 157 b to which source lines are electrically connected to the firstand second source driver IC packages 140 a and 140 b. Thus, gate drivingsignals provided from FPC 120 b may be transmitted directly to the gatedriver IC packages 130 through the via gate driving signal transferpattern 155.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the gatedriving signals may be provided through the source and gate drivingsignal connection pattern 125, and may be provided to the gate driver ICpackages 130 through the first and second source driver IC packages 140a and 140 b. As described with reference to FIG. 1, the gate drivingsignals may be input to the source driver ICs included in the first andsecond source driver IC packages 140 a and 140 b and may be sorted, andthen may be provided to the gate driver IC packages 130, or may beprovided to the gate driver IC packages 130 only through the basesubstrate of the first and second source driver IC packages 140 a and140 b.

The source driving signals may be provided to the first and secondsource driver IC packages 140 a and 140 b through the source and gatedriving signal connection pattern 125, and may be provided to the thirdand fourth source driver IC packages 140 c and 140 d through the sourcedriving signal connection pattern 123. Since any pattern for providingthe gate driving signals is not formed on source line patterns 157 c and157 d of which source lines are electrically connected to the third andfourth source driver IC packages 140 c and 140 d, the source linepatterns 157 c and 157 d may also be formed on a portion of the imagedisplay panel 150 to which the third and fourth source driver ICpackages 140 c and 140 d are bonded.

Referring to FIG. 2C, the FPC 120 c is bonded to a portion of the imagedisplay panel 150 where at least one of the source driver IC packages140 is bonded. For example, when the FPC 120 c is bonded to the portionof the second end/edge of the image display panel 150, the source driverIC packages 140 may be bonded to the FPC 120 c.

The gate driving signal generated from the semiconductor chip 111 of thePCB 110 c may be provided to the first gate driving signal transferpattern 153 a through the gate driving signal connection pattern 121 ofthe FPC 120 c, and a gate driving signal transfer pattern 156 of theimage display panel 150. Thus, the gate driving signals may be provideddirectly to the gate driver IC packages 130.

The source driving signals generated from the semiconductor chip 111 ofthe PCB 110 c may be provided to a first source driving signal inputpattern 143 a formed on the first source driver IC package 140 a througha inner source driving signal transfer pattern 154. The source drivingsignals may pass through the first source driver IC package 140 a, andthen may be provided to source lines through a first source drivingsignal output pattern 144 a and the source line pattern 157 a, or maypass through a first sorted source driving signal transfer pattern 145a, and then may be sequentially provided to the second through fifthsource driver IC packages 140 b, 140 c, 140 d, and 140 e through thefirst source driving signal transfer pattern 151 a.

Since the FPC 120 c and the source driver IC packages 140 are bonded andelectrically connected to different portions of the image display panel150, different wirings of the image display panel 150 may be designed inorder to prevent short circuits from occurring between driving signals.

For example, only the source driving signal connection pattern 123 maybe formed on the FPC 120 c that is bonded to a lower portion of thefifth source driver IC package 140 e. The source driving signalsprovided through the FPC 120 c may be provided to a portion of a fifthsource driving signal input pattern 143 e through the source drivingsignal transfer pattern 154 formed on the image display panel 150. Theportion of the fifth source driving signal input pattern 143 e may beelectrically connected to the fourth source driving signal transferpattern 151 d so as to receive the source driving signals from thefourth source driver IC package 140 d.

When the source driver IC packages 140 are connected directly to the PCB110 c so as to receive the source driving signals, a loss in the sourcedriving signals and signal delay may be reduced. However, during finalassembly of the image display panel assembly 100 c, the PCB 110 c may bebent and fixed. Thus, the source driver IC packages 140 may be deformedaccording to the form of the PCB 110 c. Since only a single end/edge ofeach of the source driver IC packages 140 is bonded to the image displaypanel 150, the source driver IC packages 140 may be less deformed due toexternal physical stress, compared with a case both ends of each of thesource driver IC packages 140 are bonded to both the PCB 110 c and theimage display panel 150.

Although described later, wiring of the source driver IC packages 140 isformed of metal, such as copper (Cu). Thus, as the size of an imagedisplay apparatus is reduced, the thickness of the wiring of the sourcedriver IC packages 140 is further reduced to, for example, about 8 μm.The fine wiring is vulnerable to crack, and to deformation of the sourcedriver IC packages 140.

The image display panel 150 including the image display panel assembly100 a, 100 b, or 100 c may provide the source driving signals whileminimizing deformation of the source driver IC packages 140, and thus areliable operation of the image display apparatus may be ensured.

In FIG. 2C, the image display panel 100 c a number of FPCs 120 c maycorrespond to the number of the source driver IC packages 140. The FPC120 c may provide the source driving signals to the source driver ICpackages 140, respectively. Thus, the source driving signals may berapidly provided, and thus an operational speed, that is, a frame rateof the image display panel 150 may be increased, thereby improving aresponse speed.

FIGS. 2A through 2C illustrate the image display panel assemblies 100 a,100 b, and 100 c respectively including the FPCs 120 a, 120 b, and 120 cthat are formed on different locations and have different paths fordriving signals, but the example embodiments are not limited thereto.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are plan views of source driver IC packages 140 and 140′according to example embodiments of the inventive concepts. The sourcedriver IC packages 140 and 140′ of FIGS. 3A and 3B may each be at leastone of the first through fourth driver IC packages 140 a, 140 b, 140 c,and 140 d.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the source driver IC package 140 may include abase substrate 141, a source driver IC 142, a source driving signalinput pattern 143, and a source driving signal output pattern 144.

The base substrate 141 may be bonded to the second end/edge of the imagedisplay panel 150. The base substrate 141 may be bonded to the imagedisplay panel 150 of FIGS. 1 through 2C by using an outer lead bonding(OLB) method with an anisotropic conductive film (ACF). The basesubstrate 141 may include a flexible insulating material. The flexibleinsulating material may be at least one of a polyimide resin, or anepoxy resin.

Sprocket holes similar to films are formed along both lateral ends ofthe base substrate 141. A distance between adjacent sprocket holes isreferred to as PF. As the number of PFs of films required to manufacturethe source driver IC package 140 is reduced, manufacturing costs of animage display apparatus may be reduced. When the source driver ICpackage 140 is bonded to the image display panel 150 of FIG. 1, thesprocket holes may be cut.

The source driving signal input pattern 143 and the source drivingsignal output pattern 144 may be formed on the base substrate 141. Thesource driving signal input pattern 143 may be electrically connected tosource driving signal transfer patterns 151 formed on the image displaypanel 150 so as to receive the source driving signals. The sourcedriving signal input pattern 143 extends towards the image display panel150. In other words, the source driving signal input pattern 143 extendstowards the second end/edge of the image display panel 150 to which thesource driver IC package 140 is bonded.

For example, when the source driver IC package 140 is bonded between thePCB 110 and the image display panel 150, the source driver IC package140 receives the source driving signal from the PCB 110, processes thereceived source driving signal, and provides the received source drivingsignal to the image display panel 150. Thus, the source driving signalinput pattern 143 extends towards the PCB 110, and the source drivingsignal output pattern 144 extends towards the image display panel 150.Typically, if the PCB 110 and the image display panel 150 are positionedto face each other with respect to the source driver IC 142, the sourcedriving signal input pattern 143 and the source driving signal outputpattern 144 may extend in opposite directions.

However, according to example embodiments, the source driver IC package140 receives the source driving signals through the source drivingsignal transfer patterns 151 formed on the image display panel 150, andprovides the source driving signals processed by the source driver IC142 to source lines included in the image display panel 150. Thus, boththe source driving signal input pattern 143 receiving the source drivingsignals and the source driving signal output pattern 144 providing thesource driving signals may extend towards the image display panel 150.

Thus, since the number of PFs of the source driver IC package 140 isreduced by as much as required when the source driving signal inputpattern 143 and the image display panel 150 extend in oppositedirections, manufacturing costs reduced.

The gate driver IC packages 130 of FIGS. 1 through 2C may each havesubstantially the same structure as the source driver IC package 140.The gate driver IC package 130 and the source driver IC package 140 mayuse the base substrate 141 having substantially the same PFs, and thusmaterials may be shared in forming the gate driver IC packages 130 andthe source driver IC package 140.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, sortedsource driving signal transfer patterns 145 for providing sorted sourcedriving signals to another source driver IC package may be formed on thebase substrate 141.

The sorted source driving signals are substantially the same as thesource via driving signals. However, throughout this specification thesorted source driving signals are signals that are sorted according asorting operation of a signal sorter of the source driver IC 142 andthen provided to another adjacent source driver IC package 140, and notprovided through separate wirings.

When a source driving signal from among the source driving signals inputthrough the source driving signal input pattern 143 corresponds to asignal to be provided to another adjacent source driver IC package, andnot to a signal to be provided to source lines that are electricallyconnected to the source driver IC package 140, the source driving signalneeds to be provided to another adjacent source driver IC package.

Thus, the source driving signals input from the source driver IC 142 aresorted into corresponding source driving signals and non-correspondingsource driving signals. The sorted source driving signals correspondingto the non-corresponding source driving signals are provided to anotheradjacent source driver IC package through the sorted source drivingsignal transfer patterns 145, and act as source driving sources of theadjacent source driver IC package. The sorted source driving signaltransfer patterns 145 are electrically connected to the source drivingsignal transfer patterns 151 formed on the image display panel 150.However, the source driving signal transfer patterns 151 connected tothe sorted source driving signal transfer patterns 145, and the sourcedriving signal transfer patterns 151 connected to the source drivingsignal input pattern 143 may be different from each other.

Although not illustrated, the base substrate, except for portionscorresponding to portions of the source driver IC 142, the sourcedriving signal input pattern 143 and the sorted source driving signaltransfer patterns 145, may be covered by solder resist (SR)

The source driver IC 142 may receive the source driving signals throughthe source driving signal input pattern 143, may process the sourcedriving signals, and then may provide the source driving signals tosource lines formed on the image display panel 150 through the sourcedriving signal output pattern 144.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concept, the sourcedriver IC 142 may sort the source driving signals into correspondingsource transfer driving signals and sorted source driving signals. Anoperation of the source driver IC 142 will be described later in detail.

The source driver IC 142 may be mounted in the form of flip chip, or maybe electrically connected to each pattern by using a wire-bondingmethod.

The source driver IC package 140 may include a tape carrier package(TCP), a chip-on-film (COF) package, and a thermally-enhancedchip-on-film (TECOF) package. The TCP is mounted on an inner leadexposed through a window formed in a tape wiring substrate by using asemiconductor inner lead bonding (ILB) method. The COF package has astructure in which a semiconductor chip is mounted on a tape wiringsubstrate having no window by using a flip-chip bonding method. TheTECoF package may increase heat dissipation effects by attaching a thinfilm metal tape with high thermal conductivity on the COF.

The source driver IC 142 may be electrically connected to patternsthrough bumps 147.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the source driver IC package 140′ may include asource driving signal via pattern 146 formed on the base substrate 141,wherein the source driving signals pass through the source drivingsignal via pattern 146 without being input to the source driver IC 142.

Compared with the source driver IC package 140 of FIG. 3A, the sourcedriver IC package 140′ of FIG. 3B may receive the source transferdriving signals to be provided to source lines electrically connected tothe source driver IC package 140′, and via source driving signals to beprovided to another adjacent source driver IC package, through differentpatterns. Thus, since only the source transfer driving signals areprovided to a source driver IC 142′, signals do not have to be sorted.The via source driving signals to be provided to another adjacent sourcedriver IC package may be provided to the adjacent source driver ICpackage through the source driving signal via pattern 146. However,example embodiments are limited thereto, and the source driver ICpackage of FIG. 3A may also include the source driving signal viapattern 146 that may provide via source driving signals to anotheradjacent source driver IC package in addition to including the sortedsource driving signal transfer patterns 145.

The source driving signal via pattern 146 and the source driving signaloutput pattern 144 receive the source driving signals through the sourcedriving signal transfer patterns 151. However, the source driving signaltransfer patterns 151 that are respectively connected to the sourcedriving signal via pattern 146 and the source driving signal outputpattern 144 may provide the via source driving signals and the sourcetransfer driving signals, respectively.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the source driver IC package 140taken along a line IV-IV′ of FIG. 3A.

Referring to FIG. 4, the source driver IC package 140 may include thebase substrate 141, a pattern 145 formed on the base substrate 141, asolder resist 148, the bumps 147, an underfill resin 149, and the sourcedriver IC 142.

The pattern 145 may include the source driving signal input pattern 143,the source driving signal output pattern 144, the sorted source drivingsignal transfer patterns 145, and the source driving signal via pattern146. However, with regard to FIG. 4, the source driving signal inputpattern 143, the source driving signal output pattern 144, the sortedsource driving signal transfer patterns 145, and the source drivingsignal via pattern 146 will be collectively described as the pattern 145using the same reference numeral as the sorted source driving signaltransfer patterns 145. The pattern 145 may be formed by patterning a Cufoil. In addition, as described above, as an image display apparatusgets thinner, the thickness of the pattern 145 is further reduced, andthus the pattern 145 may be vulnerable to stress.

Break failure of the pattern 145 included in the source driver ICpackage 140 may occur mainly on both ends of the source driver ICpackage 140 on which stress concentrates when the PCB 110 is finallybonded to the source driver IC package 140. For example, when the sourcedriver IC package 140 is bonded to the image display panel 150 by an ACFas a medium, Break failure may occur on the pattern 145 between the ACFand the solder resist 148.

Thus, in the image display panel assembly 100, the source driver ICpackage 140 receives the source driving signals through the imagedisplay panel 150 rather than being connected to the PCB 110, and thusfine patterns are negligibly damaged, thereby ensuring a reliableoperation of the image display apparatus.

The solder resist 148 may be formed on the base substrate 141, exceptfor portions corresponding to portions of the pattern 145. The solderresist 148 is formed of an insulating material and covers the pattern145 in order to prevent short circuits from occurring between patterns,or between patterns and another device.

The bumps 147 are formed by plating silver (Ag) bumps on an aluminum(Al) electrode of the source driver IC 142 by using a barrier metal as amedium. Two electrodes are heated and pressured so as to bond to eachother to obtain Ag—Sn bonding, and thus the source driver IC 142 and thepattern 145 are electrically connected.

The underfill resin 149 may include a material with a high modulus ofelasticity and a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and mayreduce a stress between the base substrate 141 and the source driver IC142 during a bonding process.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an image display apparatusincluding an image display panel assembly 500, according to exampleembodiments of the inventive concepts.

Referring to FIG. 5, the image display panel assembly 500 may include atiming controller 510 included in the PCB 110, a source driver 540including at least one source driver IC package 140, a gate driver 530including at least one gate driver IC package 130, and an image displaypanel 550.

Components of FIG. 5 have different reference numerals from thosedescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4 in order to explainfunctions of the components.

The image display panel assembly 500 may correspond to at least one ofthe image display panel assemblies 100, 100 a, 100 b, and 100 cdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 2C. The PCB 110 maycorrespond to the timing controller 510. According to exampleembodiments of the inventive concepts, the PCB 110 may be expressed byanother block other than the timing controller 510. The gate driver ICpackages 130 may each correspond to the gate driver 530, the sourcedriver IC packages 140 may each correspond to the source driver 540, andthe image display panel 150 may correspond to the image display panel550.

Since the FPC 120 performs only a function of transferring the sourceand gate driving signals provided by the PCB 110, a functional blockcorresponding to the FPC 120 is not illustrated in FIG. 5.

The timing controller 510 may receive an image signal IMG from anexternal device, such as a host, and may provide a source driving signalSCON, and a gate driving signal GCON. The timing controller 510 mayinclude a receiving terminal for receiving an image signal of high speedthat is serialized from the external device, a data processing terminalthat parallelizes and restores the serialized image signal back to theoriginal image signal in order to transmit the image signal to sourceand gate drivers, and that performs temporal distribution on data sothat the restored image signal may be distributed to the source and gatedrivers for driving each pixel of the image display panel 550 in atimely manner, a clock generator for generating a carrier frequency usedto transmit clocks and data that are used in the timing controller 510,and a transmitting terminal for transmitting the image signaldistributed by the timing controller 510 to the source and gate drivers.

The timing controller 510 may transmit and receive the image signal IMGto and from the external device by using various methods such aslow-voltage differential signaling (LVDS), a digital video interface(DVI), a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI), and a displayport.

The timing controller 510 may transmit and receive the source drivingsignal SCON and the gate driving signal GCON by using methods such asreduced swing differential signaling (RSDS), mini-LVDS, andpoint-to-point differential signaling (PPDS).

The image signal IMG may include a clock signal, an image informationsignal, vertical and horizontal synchronization signals, and the like.When the image display panel 550 is a panel that realizes colors, theimage information signal may contain image information of R, G, and Bcolors.

The source driver 540 may receive the source driving signal SCON, andmay provide a plurality of source driving signals s0, s1, s2, throughs(p−1) to a plurality of source lines included in the image displaypanel 550, respectively.

The source driver 540 may convert the source driving signal SCONreceived from the timing controller 510 by using a predetermined logicaloperation, and may provide a voltage value, which is converted tocorrespond to the source driving signal SCON based on a referencevoltage, to the source driving signals s0, s1, s2, through s(p−1).

Each of the source driving signals s0, s1, s2, through s(p−1) providedto the source lines may be stored in a capacitor included in acorresponding pixel.

The gate driver 530 may sequentially transfer the gate driving signalGCON received from the timing controller 510, and may sequentiallyactivate a plurality of gate lines included in the image display panel550.

While the gate lines are sequentially activated, an image correspondingto a quantity of charge stored in capacitors is displayed by the sourcedriving signals s0, s1, s2, through s(p−1), and may be maintained for asingle frame.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the imagedisplay panel assembly 500 may further include a power supply 570.

The power supply 570 may receive a power control signal PCON from theexternal device, such as a host, and may provide voltages suitable forthe components. In FIG. 5, the power supply 570 provides a gate voltageVG to the gate driver 530, and provides a backlight voltage VB to abacklight unit 560, but example embodiments are not limited thereto.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, the imagedisplay panel assembly 500 may further include the backlight unit 560.The backlight unit 560 may include a cold cathode fluorescent lamp(CCFL), and a light emission diode (LED). When the image display panelassembly 500 includes the backlight unit 560, the image display panelassembly 500 may correspond to an image display apparatus. Forconvenience of description, the image display panel assembly 500including the backlight unit 560 will be described with reference toFIG. 5.

The backlight unit 560 is disposed on a rear surface of the imagedisplay panel 550, receives the backlight voltage VB from the powersupply 570 and generates plane light having uniform brightness, andprovides the plane light to the image display panel 550. When thebacklight unit 560 is an OLED, which is a self-emission light source,the backlight unit 560 may not be included in the image display panelassembly 500.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are blocks of source driver ICs 540 a and 540 b,according to example embodiments of the inventive concepts. The sourcedriver ICs 540 a and 540 b may each correspond to the source driver IC142 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 4, or the source driver 540 of FIG. 5.Different reference numerals are used to indicate the source driver ICs540 a and 540 b, the source driver IC 142, and the source driver 540, inorder to prevent confusion therebetween.

In FIG. 6A, the source transfer driving signals and the via sourcedriving signals are provided through different patterns, and a sourcedriver IC receives only the source transfer driving signals, whichcorresponds to a case where the source driving signals are not sortedlike in FIG. 3B

Referring to FIG. 6A, the source driver IC 540 a may include a logiccircuit 610, a latch 620, a digital-analog converter 630, and an outputbuffer 640.

The logic circuit 610 receives the source driving signal SCON, andperforms a predetermined logical operation so as to obtain logic drivingsignals l0, l1, l2, through l(n−1). The logical operation may be changedaccording to a method of displaying an image in the image display panel550 of FIG. 5. For example, the logic circuit 610 may sample the imageinformation signal provided in series according to the vertical andhorizontal synchronization signals so as to obtain the logic drivingsignals l0, l1, l2, through l(n−1).

The latch 620 may store the logic driving signals l0, l1, l2, throughl(n−1), and may provide the logic driving signals l0, l1, l2, throughl(n−1) to the digital-analog converter 630.

The digital-analog converter 630 may provide source voltage values v0,v1, v2, . . . , v(n−1) corresponding to the logic driving signals l0,l1, l2, through l(n−1) based on a reference voltage.

The output buffer 640 may provide the source voltage values v0, v1, v2,. . . , v(n−1) to corresponding source lines based on separate outputsignals.

FIG. 6B illustrates the source driver IC 540 b when non-correspondingsource driving signals are provided like in FIG. 3A. In FIG. 6B, thesource driver IC 540 b may further include a signal sorter 650 foroutputting the non-corresponding source driving signals as sorted sourcedriving signals, and transmitting the sorted source driving signals toanother adjacent source driver IC package.

The signal sorter 650 sorts the source driving signal SCON into sourcetransfer driving signals and sorted source driving signals PSCON.Signals may be sorted according to a predetermined standard.

Operations after the sort of the source driving signal SCON aresubstantially the same as in the source driver IC 540 a of FIG. 6A, andthus will not be described herein.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a gate driver IC 530 a, according toexample embodiments of the inventive concepts. Like in FIGS. 6A and 6B,the gate driver IC 530 a may be a gate driver IC included in the gatedriver IC packages 130, and may correspond to the gate driver 530 ofFIG. 5. In order to maintain consistency of the block diagram, the samereference numerals are used in FIG. 5 in order to describe the gatedriver IC 530 a.

Referring to FIG. 7, the gate driver IC 530 a may include a shiftregister 710, a level shifter 720, and an output buffer 730.

The shift register 710 receives the gate driving signal GCON, andprovides a plurality of level driving signals c0, c1, c2, through c(m−1)that are sequentially activated. The shift register 710 may operate insynchronization with a separate clock signal, and may include anoscillator, or the like.

The level shifter 720 levels the level driving signals c0, c1, c2,through c(m−1) up or down to appropriate voltage levels, and providesthe level driving signals c0, c1, c2, through c(m−1) as a plurality ofgate driving signals g0, g1, g2, through g(m−1).

The output buffer 730 may include buffers for rapidly providing the gatedriving signals g0, g1, g2, through g(m−1) to a plurality of gate lineswith a large load.

The gate driver IC 530 a provides the gate driving signals g0, g1, g2,through g(m−1) that are sequentially activated to the gate linesincluded in the image display panel 550 of FIG. 5 so that a plurality ofpixels may display images corresponding to source driving voltage valuesstored in capacitors.

However, the gate driver IC 530 a may generate and provide the gatedriving signals g0, g1, g2, through g(m−1) by using various methodsaccording to a driving method of the image display panel 150 of FIG. 5,and thus example embodiments are not limited to the above-describedmethods.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of an image display apparatus 10according to example embodiments of the inventive concepts.

As described with reference to FIG. 5, when the image display panelassembly 100 includes a backlight unit 160 corresponding to thebacklight unit 560 of FIG. 5, the image display panel assembly 100corresponds to the image display apparatus 10. However, in FIG. 8, theimage display apparatus 10 includes the image display panel assembly100, and other components. Therefore, in FIG. 8, components areseparately referred from the image display panel assembly 100, and theentirety of FIG. 8 shows the image display panel assembly 100.

Referring to FIG. 8, the image display apparatus 10 may include theimage display panel assembly 100, the backlight unit 160, a chassis 810,and upper and lower cases 820 a and 820 b.

The image display panel assembly 100 may include the PCB 110, the FPC120, the gate driver IC packages 130, the source driver IC packages 140,and the image display panel 150.

The image display panel assembly 100 includes the PCB 110 for processingsource and gate driving signals, and the FPC 120 for receiving thesource and gate driving signals from the PCB 110 and providing thesource and gate driving signals to source and gate driving signaltransfer patterns formed on the image display panel 150, and only asingle end of each of the gate driver IC packages 130 and the sourcedriver IC packages 140 is fixed so as to prevent the gate driver ICpackages 130 and the source driver IC packages 140 from being damageddue to external stress.

The backlight unit 160 may include an optical sheet 161, a light guideplate 162, a lamp assembly 163, a reflective plate 164, and a mold frame165.

The optical sheet 161, the light guide plate 162, the lamp assembly 163,and the reflective plate 164 may be accommodated in the mold frame 165in the order stated, and the image display panel 150 is fixed onto theoptical sheet 161 by the chassis 810.

During assembly for fixing the image display panel assembly 100 by thechassis 810, the PCB 110 may be bent and fixed in a perpendiculardirection to a surface of the image display panel 150, or may be fixedto a rear surface of the image display panel 150, that is, to a rearportion of the backlight unit 160.

According to where the PCB 110 is disposed, the FPC 120 may be bent. Inthe image display apparatus 10, the source driver IC packages 140 areconnected to the PCB 110 through the FPC 120 in order to preventpatterns of the source driver IC packages 140 from being damaged whenthe PCB 110 is bonded directly to each of the source driver IC packages140, thereby ensuring a reliable operation for transmitting drivingsignals.

The image display apparatus 10 may be protected by the upper case 820 aand the lower case 820 b.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are cross-sectional views of image display apparatuses10 a and 10 b each of which corresponds to the image display apparatus10 taken along a line IX-IX′ of FIG. 8, according to example embodimentsof the inventive concepts. In FIGS. 9A and 9B, the PCB 110 is fixed todifferent portions, and some components of FIG. 8 are not illustrated.

Referring to FIG. 9A, the image display apparatus 10 a may include thePCB 110 that is fixed at an opposite surface of the backlight unit 160to an adjacent surface to the image display panel 150.

The image display panel 150 may include a thin film transistor (TFT)substrate 151 on which a pixel electrode is connected to TFTs includedin pixels, and a color filter substrate 153 formed on a glass substratefacing the TFT substrate 151.

When the PCB 110 is fixed, the FPC 120 is bent from the image displaypanel 150 so as to surround a lateral surface of the backlight unit 160.

Referring to FIG. 9B, the image display apparatus 10 b may include thePCB 110 fixed at the lateral surface of the backlight unit 160 adjacentto the image display panel 150. The PCB 110 may be fixed adjacent to thelateral surface of the backlight unit 160, and the FPC 120 may be bentin a perpendicular direction to a surface of the image display panel150.

In FIG. 9B, since the PCB 110 is fixed at the lateral surface of thebacklight unit 160, the image display apparatus 10 b is slim, and theFPC 120 is negligibly deformed.

According to example embodiments of the inventive concepts, an imagedisplay panel assembly and an image display apparatus including theimage display panel assembly may have an improved structure in whichgate and source driving signals are provided through a FPC substrateincluding a PCB and an image display panel, compared with a case wheredriver IC packages include gate and source driver ICs for processinggate and source driving signals that are bonded directly to a PCBsubstrate so as to receive driving signals.

Thus, one end of each of gate and source driver IC packages is bonded tothe image display panel, and the other end is not bonded to the imagedisplay panel, thereby preventing patterns of each of gate and sourcedriver IC packages from being damaged.

In addition, both the gate and source driver IC packages may includeinput and output patterns that extend towards the image display panel,and thus the number of PFs of a base substrate included in the gate andsource driver IC packages may be reduced.

Example embodiments having thus been described, it will be obvious thatthe same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to beregarded as a departure from the intended spirit and scope of exampleembodiments, and all such modifications as would be obvious to oneskilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image display panel assembly, comprising: aprinted circuit board (PCB) that includes a semiconductor chipconfigured to provide a gate driving signal and a source driving signal;a flexible printed circuit (FPC) that has a first end that is bonded to,and electrically connected to, the PCB, the FPC including, a sourcesignal pattern configured to receive the source driving signal from thesemiconductor chip, and a gate signal pattern that is separate from thesource signal pattern and configured to receive the gate driving signalfrom the semiconductor chip; an image display panel electricallyconnected to a second end of the FPC, the image display panel includinggate driving signal transfer patterns along a first edge of the imagedisplay panel, source driving signal transfer patterns along a secondedge adjacent to the first edge, and a plurality of pixels; a pluralityof gate driver integrated circuit (IC) packages configured to receivethe gate driving signal through the gate signal pattern and the gatedriving signal transfer patterns, and configured to provide the gatedriving signal to gate lines of the plurality of pixels; and a pluralityof source driver IC packages being directly bonded to the image displaypanel along the second edge of the image display panel, and configuredto receive the source driving signal through the source signal patternand the source driving signal transfer patterns, and configured toprovide the source driving signal to source lines of the plurality ofpixels, wherein one source driver IC package is electrically connectedto the source driving signal transfer patterns of a first number, andanother source driver IC package is electrically connected to the sourcedriving signal transfer patterns of a second number less than the firstnumber.
 2. The image display panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the onesource driver IC package is configured to receive the source drivingsignal through the source driving signal transfer patterns, andconfigured to transfer the source driving signal to an adjacent sourcedriver IC package and to provide the source driving signal to the imagedisplay panel.
 3. The image display panel assembly of claim 2, whereinthe one source driver IC package include source driving signal inputpatterns electrically connected to a source driver IC and receives thesource driving signal, and a sorted source driving signal transferpatterns electrically connected to the source driver IC, the sortedsource driving signal transfer patterns configured to output a sortedsource driving signal that is sorted by the source driver IC to othersource driver IC package.
 4. The image display panel assembly of claim2, wherein the one source driver IC package includes a source drivingsignal via pattern configured to bypass the one source driver IC packageand output the source driving signal to other source driver IC package.5. The image display panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the anothersource driver IC package is configured to receive the source drivingsignal through the source driving signal transfer patterns, and toprovide the source driving signal to the image display panel.
 6. Theimage display panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the one source driverIC package and the another source driver IC package include sourcedriving signal output patterns that are electrically connected to asource driver IC and configured to provide the source driving signal tothe source lines of the plurality of pixels, and wherein the number ofthe driving signal output patterns in the one source driver IC packageis the same as the number of the driving signal output patterns in theanother source driver IC package.
 7. The image display panel assembly ofclaim 1, each of source driver IC packages includes, a base substrateincluding a flexible insulating material, and the base substrate notbeing bonded to the PCB, a source driver IC mounted on the basesubstrate and configured to receive and provide the source drivingsignal, a source driving signal input pattern electrically connected tothe source driver IC and receives the source driving signal, and asource driving signal output pattern that is electrically connected tothe source driver IC and configured to provide the source driving signalto the source lines of the plurality of pixels.
 8. The image displaypanel assembly of claim 5, wherein the source driving signal inputpattern and the source driving signal output pattern both extend fromthe source driver IC towards the image display panel.
 9. The imagedisplay panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the FPC is on a cornerportion between the first edge and the second edge of the image displaypanel.
 10. The image display panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the FPCis on a portion of the second edge of the image display panel.
 11. Theimage display panel assembly of claim 1, wherein one gate driver ICpackage is electrically connected to the gate driving signal transferpatterns of a first number, and another gate driver IC package iselectrically connected to the gate driving signal transfer patterns of asecond number less than the first number.
 12. The image display panelassembly of claim 1, wherein the gate driving signal transfer patternsof the one gate driver IC package are electrically connected to the FPCand are connected the another gate driver IC package.
 13. An imagedisplay panel assembly, comprising: a printed circuit board (PCB) thatincludes a semiconductor chip configured to provide a gate drivingsignal and a source driving signal; a flexible printed circuit (FPC)that has a first end that is bonded to, and electrically connected to,the PCB, the FPC including, a source signal pattern configured toreceive the source driving signal from the semiconductor chip, a gatesignal pattern that is separate from the source signal pattern andconfigured to receive the gate driving signal from the semiconductorchip, and a source and gate signal pattern configured to receive thesource and gate driving signals from the semiconductor chip; an imagedisplay panel electrically connected to a second end of the FPC, theimage display panel including gate driving signal transfer patternsalong a first edge of the image display panel, source driving signaltransfer patterns along a second edge adjacent to the first edge, and aplurality of pixels; a plurality of gate driver integrated circuit (IC)packages configured to receive the gate driving signal through the gatesignal pattern, the source and gate signal pattern and the gate drivingsignal transfer patterns, and configured to provide the gate drivingsignal to gate lines of the plurality of pixels; and a plurality ofsource driver IC packages being directly bonded to the image displaypanel along the second edge of the image display panel, and configuredto receive the source driving signal through the source signal pattern,the source and gate signal pattern, and the source driving signaltransfer patterns, and configured to provide the source driving signalto source lines of the plurality of pixels, wherein the FPC is bonded toa portion of the second edge of the image display panel, one sourcedriver IC package is electrically connected to the source driving signaltransfer patterns of a first number, and another source driver ICpackage is electrically connected to the source driving signal transferpatterns of a second number less than the first number.
 14. The imagedisplay panel assembly of claim 13, the FPC is bonded to a centralportion between source driver IC packages.
 15. The image display panelassembly of claim 13, the image display panel further includes a viagate driving signal transfer patterns along the second edge of the imagedisplay panel, and the gate driver IC packages are configured todirectly receive the gate driving signal through the via gate drivingsignal transfer patterns, and configured to transfer the gate drivingsignal to an adjacent gate driver IC package or to provide the gatedriving signal to the image display panel.
 16. The image display panelassembly of claim 15, a first group of the source driver IC packages isdisposed on the via gate driving signal transfer patterns and a secondgroup of the source driver IC packages is disposed on the image displaypanel.
 17. The image display panel assembly of claim 16, the first groupof the source driver IC packages and the second group of the sourcedriver IC packages includes the one source driver IC package and theanother source driver IC package, respectively.
 18. An image displaypanel assembly, comprising: a printed circuit board (PCB) that includesa semiconductor chip configured to provide a gate driving signal and asource driving signal; at least one flexible printed circuit (FPC) thathas a first end that is bonded to, and electrically connected to, thePCB, the FPC including, a source signal pattern configured to receivethe source driving signal from the semiconductor chip, and a gate signalpattern that is separate from the source signal pattern and configuredto receive the gate driving signal from the semiconductor chip; an imagedisplay panel electrically connected to a second end of the FPC, theimage display panel including gate driving signal transfer patternsalong a first edge of the image display panel, source driving signaltransfer patterns along a second edge adjacent to the first edge, and aplurality of pixels; a plurality of gate driver integrated circuit (IC)packages configured to receive the gate driving signal through the gatesignal pattern, and the gate driving signal transfer patterns, andconfigured to provide the gate driving signal to gate lines of theplurality of pixels; and a plurality of source driver IC packages beingdirectly bonded to the image display panel along the second edge of theimage display panel and being indirectly bonded via the FPC, andconfigured to receive the source driving signal through the sourcesignal pattern, and the source driving signal transfer patterns, andconfigured to provide the source driving signal to source lines of theplurality of pixels, wherein the at least one flexible printed circuits(FPC) is a plurality of flexible printed circuits and the at least oneflexible printed circuits (FPC) is bonded to the second edge of theimage display panel, and at least one gate driver integrated circuit(IC) package is bonded to the at least one FPC, wherein one sourcedriver IC package is electrically connected to the source driving signaltransfer patterns of a first number, and another source driver ICpackage is electrically connected to the source driving signal transferpatterns of a second number less than the first number.
 19. The imagedisplay panel assembly of claim 18, wherein the at least one FPC isbonded to corner portion of the second edge of the image display panel.20. The image display panel assembly of claim 17, wherein each of sourcedriver IC packages includes, a base substrate, having a first end and asecond end opposite to the first end, the first end of the basesubstrate being bonded to the image display panel, the base substrateincluding a flexible insulating material, and the second end of the basesubstrate not being bonded to the PCB.